Why the Spring Game Needs to be a Sellout

Lost in the thunder of National Signing Day is the fact that Spring Game tickets went on-sale today. (Details here.)

There’s no pressure or anything, but it’s up to every man, woman, and child who bleeds Husker Red to do their part to fill the aisles and make an April Saturday feel like it’s October with the Badgers in town.

While Mike Riley and staff have no doubt been given an off-season taste of how deep Husker fandom runs, nothing can send a bolder welcome (or stronger message that Husker Nation means business) than a Spring Game Red Out rolling 90,000 fans deep.

At Riley’s final spring game at Oregon State, 8,263 fans showed up to see some hot Beaver on Beaver action.

That number is correct. There is not a digit missing in front of the ‘8’.

Bet those four kids who sneaked into an empty stadium to burn a doobie had their mellow harshed when a football team showed up.

Somehow, all 8,263 fans managed to hide in every photo.

Everyone who stuck around until the end got to meet a Beaver.

Let’s contrast the Reser Stadium ghost town to last year’s scene in Lincoln when 61,772 fans turned up to see the Big Red take on the Big White. (If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 16,098 more fans than Reser Stadium even holds.)

Here’s the hard truth: BYU comes to Lincoln to start the 2015 season. Coach Riley and company are going to hit the ground running directly to a possible bautismo del fuego.

Without a Northeastern Mid-Central Kentucky to kick things off, the Spring Game is the closest thing the new Husker regime will have to a dress rehearsal.

That’s why it’s crucial that everyone in the stadium (including you, Blue Hairs) needs to be on point with their game day performance, all the way down to the Der Viener Schlinger guy. The last thing we need on September 5th is a coach distracted by flying hot dogs and shoes waving in the air on every kickoff.

Mike Riley and company have been around the football block a few times but nothing can prepare them for finding out there is no place like Nebraska until they see it and feel it for themselves.